We spoke to interior designer + Head of Design + Trade for Beam, Lisa Wirth about creating work-from-home design solutions beyond the pandemic.

Earlier this year at KBIS, I hosted a panel in the DMMTalks Lounge on macro trends (listen here), where we looked at societal and lifestyle trends that impact architecture and design. On the panel talking about The pandemic?s effects on the way we work was Lisa Wirth, an interior designer, and Head of Design + Trade for Beam. Her informative talk centered around how the rapid shift to working from home has impacted residential design, emphasizing how this isn?t a short-term or temporary situation ? many workers will remain home or in hybrid situations. I found her insights on creating work-from-home design solutions to be really insightful for both designers and consumers, so I asked her to elaborate. Read on: In your DMMTalks Lounge talk ?Why Your Kitchen Might Just Remain the Home Office,? You talked about something called the ?donut effect.? Can you explain what that means"
The pandemic has reshaped where and how we live, driven in large part by employment trends and the growth of remote work from home. What might have seemed temporary is a permanent reshaping and revolution.
What we?re finding: The suburbs outside of major urban centers have taken on a new importance. Using data from Zillow and the U.S. post office, experts like Stanford Professor Nicholas Bloom have quantified the effect of COVID-19 on migration p...